She Was Coloured In

*** EDIT*** - this album does not contain a quote from the Shining, it is in fact a quote from The Passenger, a much less popular Jack Nicholson film. So that kinda of scuppers the whole point of my review, which originally appeared in the print version of Electronic Beats Magazine. Still, this is a lovely, warm enveloping album that you should be checking out regardless of my accuracy at remembering film quotations.

Using a sample from The Shining as an opening gambit on your album is either a strike of populist genius or a bit obvious. It all depends on what the music is like.

In the case of Solar Bears that sample almost set me off on the wrong foot. However, it didn’t take long for me to be distracted from theorising what Shining sampling music should sound like by glittering cosmic beats. There’s been enough ‘cosmic disco’ recently to ensure that only the absolute cream comes to the top, and the Solar Bears do just that when they divert into hazier psychedelic territory – ‘Cub’, for example, is just beautiful.

That was the point that I really did forget about The Shining and allowed myself to be transported to outer and then inner space.